NTA Film Network

Parent company National Telefilm Associates was founded by producers Ely Landau and Oliver A. Unger{{cite web|url=http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_052961/15|title=Oliver Unger Quits NTA; Charles Glett Successor|publisher=BOXOFFICE|date=May 29, 1961|access-date=March 9, 2009}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}} in 1954 when Landau's film and television production company Ely Landau, Inc. was reorganized in partnership with Unger and screenwriter/producer Harold Goldman.{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/argussventon/cartoondistributors/nta/ummnta.html|title=U.M.&M. and NTA, a brief history|access-date=March 9, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806025834/http://geocities.com/argussventon/cartoondistributors/nta/ummnta.html|archive-date=August 6, 2009}} NTA was the successor company to U.M. & M. TV Corporation, which it purchased in 1956.{{cite news | title = Short subjects film library sold again| work = Albuquerque Journal| place = Albuquerque, NM| pages = 25| date = May 16, 1956}}

In October 1956, the NTA Film Network was launched with more than 100 affiliate stations.{{Cite news |date=November 3, 1956 |title=Fox Buys Into TV Network; Makes 390 Features Available |pages=8 |newspaper=Boxoffice |url=http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_110356-1/8}} It was a syndication service that distributed films and television programs to independent television stations and stations affiliated with NBC, CBS or ABC. The network's flagship station was WNTA-TV Channel 13 in New York.{{cite book| last = Golembiewski| first = Dick | title = Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years| publisher = Marquette University Press| year = 2008| pages = [https://archive.org/details/milwaukeetelevis00gole_069/page/n280 280]–281| url =https://archive.org/details/milwaukeetelevis00gole_069| url-access = limited| isbn = 978-0-87462-055-9}} Trade papers called the NTA Film Network a new television network.{{Cite news| title = Fourth TV Network, for Films, is Created| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 8| date = July 7, 1956| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_070756/8}}

Unlike the Big Three television networks, the local stations in the NTA Film Network were not connected via coaxial cable or microwave relay. Instead, NTA Film Network programs were mailed to each station, a method used by other television syndicators in the 1950s and 1960s. However, many local stations agreed to broadcast NTA Film Network programs simultaneously. Landau's claim to network status was based on the simultaneous airing of the programs.{{Cite magazine| title = New Voice on Channel 13| magazine = Time| date = May 19, 1958| url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864365,00.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071001021445/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864365,00.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = October 1, 2007}}

In November 1956, Twentieth Century-Fox announced its 50% purchase of the NTA Film Network and its plans to produce original content for the network. The film network grew to 128 stations.{{cite book| last = Boddy| first = William| title = Fifties Television: The Industry and its Critics| publisher = University of Illinois Press| year = 1990| location = Urbana and Chicago| pages = 138| isbn = 0-252-01699-8}} In September 1957, the network purchased KMGM-TV (now KMSP-TV) in Minneapolis.{{Cite news| title = NTA Buys Second TV Station in Month| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 21| date = October 5, 1957| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_100557/156}}

{{Main|List of former NTA Film Network affiliates in the United States|List of former NTA Film Network affiliates in Canada}}

The following is a list of NTA Film Network affiliate stations in November 1956.{{Cite journal| title = Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films| journal = Boxoffice| pages = 13| date = November 10, 1956| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1}}

Later affiliates included KOOK-TV in Billings, Montana (c. 1958–1959),{{cite news | title = Friday TV Schedule| work = The Daily Inter Lake| place = Kalispell, MT| pages = 3| date = December 26, 1958}} KONO-TV in San Antonio (c. 1958–1959),{{cite news | title = How to Marry a Millionaire Tonight at 9:30 PM KONO-TV Channel 12 NTA Film Network| work = San Antonio Express and News| place = San Antonio, TX| pages = 23| date = March 14, 1959}}{{cite news | title = Details, Previews of Tonight's TV | work = San Antonio Express and News| place = San Antonio, TX| pages = 21| date = January 10, 1959}} WISH-TV in Indianapolis (c. 1958–1959){{cite news | title = Complete TV Programs for the Week | work = Logansport Pharos-Tribune| place = Logansport, IN| pages = 21| date = October 5, 1958}} and KTVU in San Francisco (c. 1959–1960).{{cite news | title = What's on TV: Wednesday| work = The Daily Review| place = Hayward, CA| pages = 17| date = January 19, 1960}} The network purchased KMGM-TV in Minneapolis in September 1957.

Image:NTA Suez 1957.jpg, starring Tyrone Power and Loretta Young.]]

The NTA Film Network aired both films and television series. Among its 1956–1957 offerings were 52 Twentieth Century-Fox films. Premiere Performance, a prime-time block of Twentieth Century-Fox films, aired from 1957 to 1959. Other film blocks included TV Hour of Stars{{cite news| title = TV Hour of Stars Top daytime drama| work = Tucson Daily Citizen| place =Tucson, AZ| pages = 20| date = November 10, 1958}} and The Big Night (both 1958–1959).{{Cite web| title = To {{sic|hide=y|Withhold}} Shirley Temple Films From Television| work = Boxoffice| pages = 16| date = March 17, 1958| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_031758/16}}

The network's television programs included:

• How to Marry a Millionaire (1957–1959), based on the popular 1953 film of the same name.
• Man Without a Gun (1957–1959), a Western series about a newspaper editor who brings criminals to justice without the use of guns.{{cite book| last = Brooks| first = Tim|author2=Marsh, Earle | title = The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable Shows, 1946–Present| publisher = Ballantine| year = 2007| location = New York| pages = 642–643, 847–848| isbn = 978-0-345-49773-4}}
• This Is Alice (1958–1959)
• The Play of the Week (1959–1961), a series of 67 televised plays.

Other lesser-known NTA series included:

• The Bill Corum Sports Show (1957)
• Man's Heritage (1957)
• The Passerby (1957)[http://www.davidgleason.com/Archive%20Radio%20Annual/1957/Pages%20950%20production%20Radio%20Annual%201957-21.pdf Production Radio and Television, pg 942]{{dead link|date=July 2016 |bot=Cyberbot II |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Official Detective (1957–1958)
• Open End (1958–1961)
• William Tell (1958–1959)
• Assignment: Underwater (1959–1960)
• Q. T. Hush (1960–1961)
• The Sheriff of Cochise (1956–1958){{cite web| title = National Telefilm Associates (NTA)| publisher = IMDb.com| year = 2009| url = https://www.imdb.com/company/co0054771/| access-date = June 16, 2009}}
• Alex in Wonderland (1959){{cite news | title = TV Notes| work = Record-Eagle| place = Traverse City, MI| pages = 4| date = March 21, 1959}}
• Newsbeat (1959–1961){{cite web| title =Wallace, Mike: U.S. Broadcast Journalist| publisher =Museum of Broadcast Communications| year =2008| url =http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wallacemike/wallacemike.htm| access-date =July 28, 2009| archive-url =http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090725023707/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wallacemike/wallacemike.htm| archive-date =July 25, 2009| url-status =dead}}
• Juke Box Jury (1958–1959)
• The Best of Bishop Sheen (1958–1963)
• Danger Is My Business (1958)
• Divorce Court (1958–1961)
• Glencannon (1959)
• Grand Jury (1959)
• Mantovani (1959)
• Henry Morgan and Company (1959)
• George Jessel's Show Business (1959)
• The Mike Wallace Interview (1959–1961)
• The Third Man (1960–1961)
• The Oscar Levant Show (1960)
• Confidential Portrait (1962)
• Crime Reporter (1962){{cite magazine|year=1964|magazine=Broadcasting|publisher=Cahners Pub. Co|volume=66|page=74}}
• Probe (1962){{cite book|last=Erickson|first=Hal|title=Syndicated Television: The First Forty Years, 1947-1987|year=1989|publisher=McFarland and Company|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=0-7864-1198-8|pages=17–181}}

In October 1956, the NTA Film Network also announced provisional plans to telecast live sporting and special events (using network relays) by the 1959–1960 television season.{{cite news | title = New 'Network' Planning Debut| work = The Progress-Index| place = Petersburg, VA| pages = 5| date = October 30, 1956}}{{NTA Film Network shows}}

Up to 17 television stations followed this schedule for the 1958–1959 television season; other affiliates aired the programs out of pattern.{{Cite news| last = Kleiner| first = Dick| title = Thin Man Mystery Show May Add Baby to Cast| newspaper = The Lima News| pages = 19| date = May 3, 1958}}

In January 1959, Ely Landau was succeeded by Charles C. Barry, who assumed the role of president of network operations. Landau continued to chair National Telefilm Associates.{{Cite news| title = Barry Named President of NTA Film Network| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 17| date = January 26, 1959| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_012659/17}} Despite Twentieth Century-Fox's 50% ownership, the film network never developed into a major commercial television network on a par with the "Big Three" television networks. Several modern television historians regard the NTA Film Network as a syndication service rather than a major television network.McNeil, Alex (1980). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. {{ISBN|0-14-024916-8}}.Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. {{ISBN|0-345-31864-1}}.

By 1961, WNTA-TV was losing money, and the network's flagship station was sold to the Educational Broadcasting Corporation that November. WNTA-TV became WNDT (later WNET), flagship station of the National Educational Television network, a forerunner of PBS.{{cite web| title = Joseph S. Iseman Papers| publisher = University of Maryland Libraries| year = 2007| url = http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/actions.DisplayEADDoc.do?source=/MdU.ead.npba.0033.xml&style=ead| access-date = April 12, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070813195251/http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/actions.DisplayEADDoc.do?source=%2FMdU.ead.npba.0033.xml&style=ead| archive-date = August 13, 2007| url-status = dead}} NTA network operations did not continue without a flagship station, although parent company National Telefilm Associates continued syndication services. Four television series (Probe, Tintin, The Fair Adventure and A Day with Doodles) were syndicated by NTA between 1962 and 1966.

Other early failed American television networks:

• DuMont Television Network
• Fourth television network
• Overmyer Network (1966)
• Hughes Television Network (1960s–1970s; occasional broadcasts)
• Mizlou Television Network (1968; occasional broadcasts)
• Paramount Television Network (1949–1956)

• {{Cite news| title = New Film TV Network to Start Mid-October| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 15| date = September 15, 1956| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_091556/15}}{{Dead link|date=June 2015}}
• {{Cite news| title = Coast TV Station Wins Top NTA Network Prize| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 13| date = August 24, 1957| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_082457-1/23}}{{Dead link|date=June 2015}}
• {{Cite news| title = Fourth TV Network, For Films, is Created| newspaper = Boxoffice| pages = 8| date = July 7, 1956| url = http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_070756/8}}{{Dead link|date=June 2015}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714123330/http://www.mrpophistory.com/popculturefiles/askmrpophistory_q16.htm Ask Mr. Pop History] (Contains short history of the NTA Film Network)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071001021445/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864365,00.html "New Voice on Channel 13"] Time article about NTA Film Network, from 1958)

{{American broadcast television (English) defunct}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nta Film Network}}

Category:Defunct television networks in the United States

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1956

Category:1961 disestablishments

Category:1961 disestablishments in the United States

Category:Television channels and stations disestablished in 1961

Category:1956 establishments in the United States

Category:20th Century Studios

Category:NTA Film Network